Mahela Jayawardene spearheaded Sri Lanka's comeback to frustrate England's attack for another day as they attempt to complete victory in the opening npower Test.

The Sri Lankan batsman, given the captaincy for this tour on short notice following Marvan Atapattu's withdrawal with a back injury, has provided almost lone resistance to England's efforts to claim an emphatic Lord's triumph.

With an inexperienced squad, his task was always going to be difficult and made even more so by England's dominance during the first half of the Test when they forced Sri Lanka to follow on 359 runs behind.

The tourists would have been even further adrift but for Jayawardene's battling 61 over 168 minutes in the first innings and he was stubborn again as Sri Lanka battled to reach 381 for six when bad light ended the fourth day.

Jayawardene demonstrated his determination and batted for more than six hours for 119 runs, withstanding England's pace to give his side a chance of salvaging a draw.

Sri Lanka's odds for a draw were 16-1 after they followed on but supported by all-rounder Farveez Maharoof England had to wait until the 35th over of the day until they ended the 130-run stand.

Resuming the fourth day on 183-3 needing a further 176 to avoid an innings defeat, Sri Lanka were expected to collapse and hand England a comfortable victory in cloudy conditions which caused several interruptions for bad light and resulted in 24 lost overs.

Instead of a Sri Lankan collapse similar to their first-innings, the tourists found inspiration in their captain and exploited another ragged England display in the field.

England had dominated the majority of this Test despite dropping four catches prior to the fourth morning but yesterday's misses proved more costly.

Maharoof was promoted up the order as nightwatchman the previous evening just four overs before the close but has enough technical expertise with the bat to suggest he could develop into a high-quality all-rounder.

He had 30 when missed by Paul Collingwood stretching at third slip after Maharoof had edged Andrew Flintoff and in the next over Andrew Strauss missed Jayawardene on 38 at second slip off Matthew Hoggard.

The pair added a further 55 in their partnership, while Jayawardene progressed to his 14th Test century and, with bad weather forecast for the final day, could earn an unexpected draw after playing second fiddle for most of the match. Jayawardene played with little of the flair which littered his previous three hundreds against England but he mustered plenty of determination as the dropped catches assumed significance.

While Jayawardene remained watchful, 22-year-old Maharoof played his shots when required and reached his second Test half-century in style by hooking Durham seamer Liam Plunkett for six.

It took the introduction of Lancashire fast bowler Sajid Mahmood to break the partnership with the eighth over with the new ball, tempting Maharoof into an uppish drive which found Kevin Pietersen at cover.

Maharoof had contributed 59, which included a six and seven fours, but importantly had occupied the crease for 168 minutes and taken Sri Lanka to within 68 runs of making England bat again.

Thilan Samaraweera, a batsman renowned for his resilience, lasted four overs before becoming Mahmood's second victim in a 13-ball spell when he attempted an upper cut but edged behind to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones.

Once again Jayawardene found a willing accomplice in Tillakaratne Dilshan, who forged another useful 68-run stand until the Sri Lankan captain's superb innings was halted.

Captain Flintoff delivered a pacy spell from the Pavilion End in the seven overs before the weather ended play.

But it was a crucial seven overs for England's hopes of forcing victory with Flintoff dismissing his rival captain three overs after the re-start with a lifting ball which appeared to brush his jumper around his rib-cage.

Jayawardene trudged off rubbing his jumper to emphasise the point but by then umpire Aleem Dar had already lifted his finger.

Four overs later play was ended with Sri Lanka 11 runs ahead and six wickets down, but hoping for a similarly determined display from their lower order to frustrate England's hopes of victory.